Ceres
by Good Ninja
Summary: A new boy arrives in Sunnydale.
1. Prologue

The moving van slowly rumbled off the driveway and back into the street, turning right and driving off. A dark-haired teenaged boy hefted a duct-taped box up into his arms and with some effort carried it through the doorway of the house, dropping it on the floor near the doorway, proceeding to dust his hands and look down the hallway at the stairs that lead up to the second floor. He had a medium build with little fat except around the belly, green eyes and didn't pack too much muscle on him. His shirt was black but his pants were red; he looked a little bit like a geek at a distance.

"That's the last of it, Dad!" He called out. His father was in the living room with his best friend Warren Mears, who had helped unload. Warren was helping set up the TV. Warren also had black hair and was wearing all black, and was a little pale.

"That's the last of it, Mr. Winters." Warren said, plugging in a few wires. He stood up again and took a step back as the older man with glasses raised the remote and hit the power button. The TV came onto the weather channel, which was reporting sunshine.

"Thank you.. Warren, was it? You can call me Richard." The father sat down on the couch. The living room had already been mostly unpacked. "Bloody sunshine. I wish they'd have some rain for once. Los Angeles always had rain.."

"Which is why we moved away, Dad." The dark haired boy leaned against the wall.

"We moved away because this place's meat packing factory has a job as manager available for a higher pay then I was getting in Los Angeles." Mr. Winter remarked, lazing on the couch. "Plus managing is easier."

"Whatever, Dad." Ceres said. "Thanks for helping unload, Warren."

"Sure thing, Ceres." Warren remarked, looking at his somewhat dust-covered hands. "It's really great you're finally moved in. Sunnydale High will be ­_so_ much more bearable now that I have someone to sit with at lunch." He grinned stupidly with a bit of pride.

"What, no one else is charmed by your great wit and total lack of social ability?" Ceres said dryly with a smirk.

"Hey! I could have any friend I wanted. I just, you know.. Like to keep to myself." Warren said, looking uncomfortable.

"I didn't mean any insult, Warren. I'm just teasing." Ceres held up his hands in a "weaponless" gesture.

"Yeah, yeah. You wanna hang out tonight at my house? I got so much stuff I wanna show you." Warren had resumed an excited, almost puppy-dog look, rubbing his hands together.

Ceres shrugged and looked at Warren. "I gotta unpack all my stuff, and you should get home before it's dark."

"You sure you don't want me to stay and help unpack at least? I'm sure my mom won't mind if I stay a little late. I think she was glad I got out of the house for once." Warren smirked.

"Nah, I'm alright. I'll talk to you online later tonight, alright?" Ceres extended a fist. Warren lightly punched it with his own.

"Alright, I'll see you later." The black-haired computer geek left the house and walked off as Ceres closed the door, sighing. He picked up the box again.

"I'll be in my room, dad!" He called out as he walked up the stairs. A muffled reply from behind walls as he carried the box into his room. The bed was already there, as well as a bookshelf, a desk with a computer on it and a drawer. He put the box on his bed and took out a few books, putting them on the bookshelf, which was empty. A few odd trinkets- an old watch, a boot, a book full of scribblings, and an amulet with engravings on it followed, being placed upon the bookshelf in disorganized fashion.

Downstairs, Mr. Winters turned the TV off and sighed, getting up from the couch and stretching, a few bones popping. He looked out the window for a moment and picked up a newspaper which happened to be laying on the side of the couch. It was from a week ago. A headline his eyes fell to read "Mayor Wilkins celebrates New Beginnings plan with formal party." Right next to it was a picture of Sunnydale High in all its glory. He called out, "CERES! Don't forget to go to bed early tonight! Tomorrow's your first day of school!"

Ceres yelled back, "I know, Dad!" as he pulled out a series of books in latin and put them on the shelf.

Finally he took out a picture of an attractive woman in her thirties, framed, and carefully brushed it off, placing it upon the desk. Signed near the bottom, it simply said "Mom." He took a step back and looked at it for a moment, exhaling. He turned towards the window and walked over to it, pulling the shades up to cast the sunset's light onto his room and bed. With a quirky look around the room he clapped his hands. "Just like home."


	2. Welcome to the Hellmouth

ACT I

Ceres looked around him at the school, standing on the steps near the street, leaning against one of the bars. It was early morning and the sun was rising still in the sky, and there was nary a cloud to shade it's view of the land. The school was bustling with life as students poured into it for the first classes of the year. Ceres stood alone, with a red shirt and jeans, his hair waving lightly in the wind. As he gazed, a car pulled up on the street. A lone teenager got out, with black hair and all black clothes. He pulled his backpack out of the car and waved to the driver.

"Try and make some friends today, Warren!" She called out after him as he walked up to Ceres, making a face as he heard his mother. A few kids snickered nearby at him as he stopped to look back and just sort of nod blankly at his mother, waving half-heartedly. She drove off and he turned back to Ceres, moving his jaw slightly as if gritting his teeth.

"…yeah." Warren said, shrugging a little bit and walking past Ceres. "Come on, I'll show you where the classes are."

"Good morning to you, too, Warren." Ceres said, looking minorly upset and disturbed. He hefted his backpack onto both shoulders from the ground.

"Right, sorry. Good morning."

"Your mother's kind of a ditz." Ceres stated right out.

"Always has been, probably always will be. When I was younger, she used to tape notes to my chest with such messages as 'Be happy!' and 'Do great'!"

"Don't be embarassed by the immense humilation of everyone knowing you're a momma's boy?" Ceres offered.

"Actually, she did use that one once...Now, come on, I have to get to my classes too, so I want to show you the layout of the school before they start. That way you can find your way around between classes." Warren turned and headed into the school. Ceres paused for a moment and another, older male student stopped beside him.

"Dude, just a bit of advice, but try not to be seen with that loser too much if you want any other friends but him. Even the dorks and gimps avoid him." The student said, patting Ceres on the back.

"Uh, thanks.You would be which?"

"Hah! Good on-... wait..."

Ceres muttered. "Got to go follow him, he's showing me my classes.." Without waiting for a reply he walked forward and into the school. The student stared after him for a moment and shrugged, walking into the school.

"Dude, you got owned." A friend beside him said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ceres opened his locker and put his books inside, inspecting the insides of the locker for a moment with a strange look before closing it with a ponderous look. As he walked away from the locker he hefted his books up to himself, nearly avoiding colliding with a passing student. He made quick apologies and slipped down the hall, opening a door that said clearly on the glass, "Principal Flutie."

He paused upon entrance, as the principal was reading what appeared to be a taped up paper, turning it around. The principal had quite a curious look upon his face, as if he were horrified and amused at the same time. He glanced up from his paper and looked at Ceres. "Oh! You must be one of the new students." He put the paper down.

"Uh, yeah. I'm Ceres Winters. I transferred here from Los Angeles?"

"Really, now? That's interesting." Flutie looked at his paper for a moment. "Says here you maintained honor roll in your other school. We're not going to have any problems, then! Don't you worry about a thing. I'll take care of the paper work. You're free to go as soon as you answer a few questions for me. I'm sure you're eager to get to classes."

"Uh, yeah."

"Have you ever gotten in trouble in school?" Flutie questioned.

"Once or twice."

"Gotten into a fight?"

"All the time."

"Stabbed anyone with wooden objects?" Flutie asked, reading through the taped report.

"Uh... toothpicks count?"

"Been responsible for mass panic?"

"Pulled a fire alarm once."

"Burned down a school?"

"I've burned down my toaster, if that works."

"Ah! Good." Flutie put the file down. "looks like you're a normal kid. You'll fit in fine here, Ceres. Just keep out of trouble and avoid troublemakers. Would you like me to show you to your classes?"

"…no…" Ceres, obviously wierded out.

"Good, good.. You're free to go. Have a nice day! " The principal turned back to the taped paper and sat down at his desk again. Ceres paused and then left the office.

As he walked down the hall, his attention began to wander. He looked at a few passing girls, looked down the hall to check to see if he could find Warren, and checked to make sure he had all his books. He became so engrossed in making sure he had the right amount of books and they were all of the right make, edition, color, size, shape, and so forth that he completly failed to notice the open locker door about to hit his head.

And hit his head it did. The locker swung backwards, forcing it's owner, a young average-sized girl in generic, indie-flavored clothing (including a red and white striped long-sleeved shirt and jeans) and soft brown hair to jump backwards as it shut and Ceres went down backwards, all his carefully counted books landing atop him. He groaned as a few more books of the non-his variety from the girl fell onto his legs from the locker.

"Oh, uh, sorry!" The girl crouched and quickly began to pick up her books as Ceres sat up to the snickering of the crowd around him. One girl outright laughed, exclaiming 'What a klutz!' to her friends and walked past. "You should watch where you're going next time. I'd hate to accidentally break your nose the next time you did that."

"That's assuming the next time I count my books and don't pay attention to where I'm going, you hit me in the face with something again." Ceres mumbled, organizing his books.

"I don't see why not. It'd keep you from doing it again, wouldn't it?" She smirked at him and he looked at her for a moment, at a loss for words. She stood up and smiled, then curtsied. "I'm Nancy. I'll see you at lunch? Good!" And with that she walked off, leaving Ceres on the ground wondering what had just happened.

".. at least I'm making friends." Ceres said.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A teacher gestured at the chalkboard. "So after you finish that reading I want you to think about the context of it and what it means to you, and more important, what it has to do with the death of Antony Bageras in 1934. And if you would turn your attention to the board, it has all of your homework for today." The class groaned as they looked.

The chalkboard had only "Read Chapter Two." on it.

Ceres leaned over to Warren, who was sitting next to him near the window, scribbling on his papers. "Chapter two of what? The syllabus listed about fifteen books."

"Uh, he means read chapter two of.. all of them." Warren muttered. Ceres' face went blank for a moment.

"I'm sorry, I've totally retroactively forgotten I asked a question so I don't have to deal with the horror that is the answer." Warren laughed and got up, collecting his books as Ceres followed suit, looking at the teacher with a mute expression of horror. The teacher simply sat down and collected a few papers. After a moment Ceres turned and headed towards the door, Warren following. "I need to head to Calc now. I'll see you at lunch?"

"Of course. Just look for the pale guy sitting by himself trying to figure out how to make the mashed potatoes more interesting then the cardboard they're in." Warren grinned and headed off in another direction.

Ceres walked down the hall and towards another classroom. He opened the door to see an art room in progress, with some of the students turning to look at him. He paused for a moment, muttered "oops, wrong class" quietly and quickly left the room again, closing the door.

He left the room so quickly, in fact, that he accidentally bumped into a passing student-jock with a red jacket. It was the same student who had met him earlier out before the school, only with books now and in a group of friends, and a girl hanging beside him. He turned slightly to look at Ceres as Ceres stumbled.

"Sorry, didn't mean to.. oh, it's you." Ceres said.

"Hey, I remember you. You're Ceres, right?" He turned back to his friends. "Go on, guys, I'll catch up with you later." They shrugged and continuined a fascinating conversation about the physics of footballs, leaving the student behind. The girl stayed, looking bored. "Sorry about earlier if I weirded you out. Just trying to help out the new guy and all. I know how it feels to be a new kid in Sunnydale."

"No, it's fine, I'm just not used to being told my friends are wierdos and to stay away from them by people I don't know and all."

"We can solve that. I'm Josh." He extended his hand, and after a moment Ceres shook it, not really smiling. "And this is Aura." He gestured to the girl. She waved and smiled, but resumed looking bored immiedately. "I heard you got hit by Nan earlier." He gestured down the hall.

"You mean Nancy?"

"Yeah. She's part of the wierd indie-jazz club we have. Come to think of it, we have a lot of wierd clubs and a lot of wierd people here, just to warn you." Josh paused for a moment and shrugged.

"She's such a wierdo." Aura commented. "She knows everyone's names all the time. I think she's autistic or something. I wouldn't be suprised if she was stalking you, Josh. Or you, come to think of it." She looked Ceres up and down. "You're not half-bad. Wierd name, though."

Josh looked at Aura for a moment, looked back to Ceres and shrugged apologetically. "Anyways, I gotta head to class, but do you wanna meet up and look for girls at the Bronx later?"

"The Bronx?"

"Yeah, it's a club. Most everyone hangs out there. We meet there around six every night to do guy stuff. Good way to get into the in-circle, you know?"

"Sounds like a plan.."

"Good! I'll see you there, then." Josh walked down the hall with Ceres looking after him. Aura turned back and waved with a smile before Ceres shrugged and walked down the hall in the opposite direction.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So this jock just up and invited you to go to the Bronx?" Warren questioned, moving his potatoes about. Ceres nodded and looked at his own meal in thought, swirling his fork around the mashed glop.

"Well, I don't think you should do it. They recruit you into their group, you're a jock for life. It's a title you can never get rid of."

"Not even if I'm a total geek?"

"Not even."

"PLUS," Nan suddenly mentioned, appearing out of nowhere from behind Ceres and startling both of the boys. "Jocks are always dying off for some reason or another. Very easy to kill, I guess." Ceres raised an eyebrow, but made no expression of suprise.

"Uh, hello?" Warren said slowly.

"Warren, this is Nancy. Nancy, Warren." Ceres said.

"Oh, I know who he is! I've watched him." Nancy smirked. "Call me Nan, please. Nan-SEE is just so commonplace. I like wierd names, like Aura or Ceres or-"

"Warren?" Warren interjected hopefully.

"Boring." Nan stated matter-of-factly. Warren pouted.

"Well, Nan, we were discussing my invitation to the Bronx by the Jock Josh." Ceres said.

Nan's face brightened. "Oh! We should definitely go. The Bronx is lots of fun. It's great for partying and drinking and feeding and the like." She pulled her hair back to take a bite of the potatoes on her own plate.

"Well, it's agreed then. The Bronx, tonight, at six?" Ceres said.

"Sure." Warren shrugged. "Make for a good welcoming party."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a room, dark with one window letting light in onto a silver steel table. A young woman looking to be in her twenties in a black silk suit sits behind the desk in a chair. Her hair is black, short, trimmed, and professional. She has an odd look about her, however, one of a certain sort of fierceness. She's wearing an amulet of some sort with a dragon pendant on the end.

A man in a street-suit walked forward, staying out of the light. "Madam, the report you wanted on the new arrivals." He extended his hand and tossed a folder onto the table, remaining out of the light with caution. The woman picked up the folder and opened it, looking into it.

The folder contains pages of information on several new people- Susan, George, Emily, Buffy, and she stops on one titled Ceres.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACT II

Ceres put a few books into his locker and closed it, and was promptly startled when Josh was beside him, putting his own books into his own locker. Josh glanced over at him, then paused to look at him.

"Well!" Josh said. "Looks like we're locker buddies, too. Isn't that cool?" He grinned.

"I suppose it is." Ceres agreed reluctantly, gathering up his backpack.

"I just got out of algebra. That class is going to kill me."

"Why, too hard?" Ceres smirked.

"Too -boring.- Half the kids in there still think a root has something to do with trees, and slopes are what you sled down on." Josh shook his head.

Ceres paused. "Josh, did you just.. crack a joke about the stupidity of your peers?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Josh huhed. "Fancy that."

"I think you just earned yourself a few cool points."

"Aw, man. I'm trying to hold back on cool points. Can't they be diet cool points or something?" Josh grinned and started to walk down the hall.

"Well, they -are- geeky cool points, so.."

"Oh, that's better, then. Geeky cool points are like empty calories."

"Hey!"

"What? It's true." Josh grinned.

"Even so, my inner geek demands I object."

"My inner jock wants to beat up your inner geek." Josh retorted.

"My inner geek is going to go hide in the library for a bit, then. See you later?"

"Sure. See you at the Bronx, man." He waved and kept walking down the hall.

Ceres opened the doors to the library as a boy with dark hair and a nerdy, nervous disposition pushed past him, a look of confusion on his face as he apologized briefly for the contact and walked down the hallway. Ceres looked after him for a moment and shrugged, walking into the library's room.

The Sunnydale High library had two levels. The entrance leads into an open area with a checkout counter to Ceres' right, and a caged off section to his left. In the center there is an octagonal area with a reading table, surrounded by chairs. Stairs on the left and right sides lead up about three feet to the mezzanine level containing bookshelves. There is a doorway at the back of the mezzanine leading into the library stacks.

"Wow. Big library.." Ceres murmured. He paused before the counter. Laying upon it were several books- one on zombies, one on werewolves, one on incubi, succubi, vampires, frog-demons, fungi demons.. a great many topics. They all looked old. He frowned. "Well, this is unusual.." 

Ceres paused and looked around himself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Whoa!" Warren muttered as Ceres pulled out an old book entitled "Werewolves" and placed it on the table. They were in a study room, one that they had mostly to themselves, right by the window that showed the football field. The others in the room were focusing on their own groups and Ceres, Warren and Nancy were mostly unnoticed.

"Where'd you get this?" Nancy questioned Ceres with a suspicious look.

"Library." Ceres said with an ambigious grin.

"Really?" Warren asked. "The new librarian must have brought this stuff, because I've never seen it in the library before. Not that I go there very often, but still, these things draw your eyes."

"And your fingers, apparently." Nan said. Warren glanced at her in confusion until Ceres reached over and pried Warren's hands off the book, passing it to Nancy. Nancy promptly opened it up and jerked her head back. "Wow, old-style print! This kind of text isn't seen very often past the 1500's.. they stopped using this kind of cursive."

"How would you know that?" Ceres questioned.

"History buff." Nancy responded.

"More like history freak." Warren muttered. He was rewarded with a quick slap to the shoulder and winced. "Hey!" Nancy just glared at him with a tiny smile. "Also a violent freak, by the way, Ceres. Ow!" He rubbed his shoulder as Nancy hit him again.

"She promised to hit me in the face if I count my books." Ceres offered.

"Well dang." Warren said. "That totally makes up for the exciting name you have."

"Much more exciting name he has. I like it. Ceres. Greek in origin, you know. One of the gods."

"Wasn't Ceres a god-DESS?" Warren corrected.

"Hey, shut up and stop poking fun at my name." Ceres muttered. "I have to give this back to the library eventually, so I'm going to take it home tonight, take notes on all of it. That way at least I know the important stuff."

"I'll help." Warren shrugged.

"Sure.. purely because I like historical fiction." Nancy smirked at Ceres.

"Fine. Warren, you want the werewolf one?" Warren had already pulled the book back towards him and was hugging it. "Uh, okay.. Nancy, you get the one on succubi and incubi, then. I'll take on the vampires." The trio got up and headed out of the room.

In the window, Josh looked on with morbid curiosity, his face revealing he had heard almost every word.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ceres walked down the hall, heading for the exit, passing a scene where the librarian was blocking a young student from moving, speaking to her in urgent but low tones. He himself paused for a moment, unable to see the student's face since he was behind the teacher, which prevented either from seeing him.

"The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less."

"Oh, come on. This is sunnydale.." the student protested. Ceres didn't hear any more of it, as he turned and headed off there and then, paling slightly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Giles walked into the library, shaking his head and rubbing his temple. "That girl is going to cause a bloody mess of things.." He sighed and rested his hand on the library counter, then paused and looked at the books.. or rather, where they had been. "Oh, dear. Not again."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a tunnel underground, kept lit only by electrical lights, a vampire-faced man and woman walked towards a kneeling figure. Both of them were wearing street clothing, looked very young and pretty, and currently had yellow eyes and fangs, so the pretty part is actually a bit of a lie. The man was wearing a black shirt underneath a leather jacket, and the woman was wearing a red and yellow-striped long-sleeved shirt under her own leather jacket.

"Sire, we believe Belinda is on the move." Said the male. Very slowly the kneeling figure rose and turned towards them, revealing a very gaunt face, but not thin, whose eyes were covered by dark sunglasses.

"The Sleeper is going to rise very soon." He said quietly. "Follow her, Jack. Kill any of her minions you come into contact with, just to be rude. Jill, I want you to find someone for me.."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
ACT III

Ceres finished writing a few notes on vampires, his face focused on his work. A knock came on his bedroom door, and he jerked up, quickly pulling a math book atop of the more ancient book.

"Ceres?" His father opened the door and leaned in. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, dad. I'm fine. Just doing homework and all."

"Good. Don't want you to fall behind on classes so soon." Mr. Winters pulled the door nearly shut but then opened it again. "Didn't you say you were going to the Bronx around 5:30? Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'm fine. It's a 15 minute walk or so."

"Okay. As long as you don't pick any fights or get into any trouble. Warren's going with you, right? He seemed to be a level headed kind of guy."

"Yes, very level headed.." Ceres said. "Can you let me finish my homework now?"

"Sure. I was just going to remind you that it's 5:37, but since you're so insistent.."

"What? Crap!" Ceres jumped up, grabbed his jacket and was putting it on as he rushed past his father.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ceres walked down the street, alone and in his normal clothes still. He looks from side to side occasionally, walking at a somewhat brisk pace. After he passes a seemingly empty alleyway, he pauses and looks down it for a moment, his face curious and his expression confused. He turns and continues to walk for a few steps, then suddenly reaches into an inside pocket of his jacket and pulls out a knife, turning backwards with a backward-swipe.

His arm is caught very easily by the woman in the silk suit and purple eyes. She holds his arm in an iron grip and he can't even budge despite struggles.

"Naughty. You should let strangers speak before trying to cut them." She reaches up and plucks the knife from his fingers, then lets him go.

"Who are you?" Ceres demanded, rubbing his arm.

The woman looked hurt. "You don't know? I thought you would.. and in any case, that's not the point."

"What do you want, then? No one creeps up on a stranger to say hello."

"Just to warn you. I've been watching you."

"Obviously, and by the way, creepy."

"You'd be hard pressed to find someone in this place that doesn't have a small measure of creepy in their life." She responded simply. Ceres was left speechless for a moment. "I only want to warn you. Your life is in danger tonight and tomorrow. Several dangerous forces are moving, and-"

"Mystic upheaval and whatnot, right? I heard. No need to reiterate." Ceres interrupted. "Unless you can give me specific aid, I don't think I need cryptic warnings from mysterious women in the night."

"Very brash of you." The woman responded. "To interrupt an elder so. But that just might be what makes you special. As you wish." She held out a small, sharp pointy piece of wood. "You'll need this tonight."

"..what?" Ceres said, taking it anyways. He looked down as he put it in his jacket where the knife used to go, and when he looked up, the woman was gone. He started and looked around for a moment, shocked.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ceres walked up the counter in the dance club, looking sideways at two ladies beside him speaking to each other, and looked around the Bronx. After a moment he just turned to the bartender and ordered a cherry coke. Warren made his way over to him, already holding a diet coke. "Hey, Ceres!" Warren said.

"Hey, Warren."

"You're a bit late! I thought we said to meet her at six?"

"Yeah, I got held up by creepsters." Ceres said.

"Oh, ugh. There's so many of those here. You'd think with a name like Sunnydale, there'd be more sunny dispositions."

"Like yours?"

"Exactly, like mi- hey! No fair." Ceres just sort of snickered.

"Speaking of which, who are they?" Ceres jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

"Them? That's Willow, the school's nerdiest nerd, and Buffy in the blonde, new girl. Don't know much about her."

"Really? Wow. Nancy was right."

"Say what?" Warren blanked.

"You have the most boring name here." Ceres grinned as Warren rolled his eyes and made a fist at him. "So, have you seen Nancy?"

"She's here somewhere. Probably dancing."

"Dancing, you say. Sounds like a plan. A dancing.. plan." Ceres looked off in the distance for a moment towards Josh, who was waving from a pool table. "And I think I need to go entertain a jock for a minute. If you see Nan, bring her over."

"Sure thing." Warren said. Ceres walked over to Josh, leaving Warren by himself again. "Right. Nan. I am the predator. She is the prey. I am honing in on my prey. I can smell.. okay, I'm not really sure I want to know what that smell is, but it's probably not Nan."

Nan suddenly poked Warren in the side, causing him to jump and yelp, turning towards her, panting as she giggled. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for you!"

"From the counter, talking to yourself?"

"So my looking skills need work?"

"I'd say! A coke, please?" She gestured to the bartender, who promptly plopped one on the counter as if he had been expecting the request.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josh took a shot on the pool table, surrounded by three or four other jacket-wearing boys and looked towards Ceres as he walked over. "Hey, Ceres! Guys, I want you to meet the new kid. Ceres.. Winters, right?"

One of the jocks snickered. "Nice name."

Josh looked at the jock who'd snickered. "Shut up, Dickie." He turned back to Ceres. "Ceres, meet Jack, Bob, Dickie, and Parker." Ceres waved slightly and looked at them all a bit reluctantly, looking clearly out of his element. Josh slapped him on the back and took another shot at the pool table.

"So where you from, Cereal-boy?" Jack questioned.

"Los Angeles." Ceres replied.

"Ah, city of angels!" Bob commented. "Wicked."

"Actually, "Wicked" and "Angels" pretty much sums it up, yeah." Ceres said.

"Well, now you're in Sunnydale." Jack said. "We've got sun, we've got dales, we've got-"

"Actually, I think we're kind of lacking in the dale department, Jack." Josh commented.

"Parker, wasn't your girlfriend named Dale?" Dickie questioned Parker. 

"Her, her sister and her cousin. I'm not lacking in the Dales department." Parker grinned.

"Oh, yeah! I remember that weekend.." Bob chuckled.

Ceres' face was twisted in a mixture of morbid amusement and "I don't want to be here"-ness. He paused and jerked his thumbs at the counter. "I'm.. going to go get a drink."

"I'll come with ya." Josh said. "Jack, you play for me." He tossed the stick over to Jack.

"Sure. Just don't too spend too long with Cereal." Jack commented, looking at the table.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josh and Ceres made their way over to the counter, where Nan was sitting, drinking her coke. Ceres blinked and motioned at her, then at the empty seat next to her. "Warren? My god, did you eat Warren?"

"Wouldn't put it past her." Josh commented.

"No, sillies." Nan said, and gestured out to the dance floor. "He got asked to dance by that girl. I got asked to dance by this really stupid-looking guy who looked like he got misplaced from the 80's but I said no, and now he's talking to Willow." She shrugged.

"You know Willow?" Ceres questioned.

"Nope!" Nan smirked and drank from her coke as Josh ordered one himself, shaking his head as Ceres made pointless gesturing motions from her to Willow and then just threw his hands in the air.

"Right. Anyways!" Ceres ordered a sprite himself and leaned against the counter. Warren walked up to beside him and Nan and grabbed his abandoned drink, muttering. "What's up? Where's the girl?"

"Left me on the floor. Said I was too skinny and a bad dancer." He muttered. Josh snickered, and Warren shot him a look.

"Oh, right." Ceres intervened. "Warren, Josh. Josh, Warren. Nan,-"

"Know who he is."

"Is there anyone who you -don't- know the name of?" Josh questioned.

"Dead people." She responded.

"I thought you liked history?" Warren asked.

"Yes! It's like a big story. But people die in history all the time. I mean, not even one person from the civil war survived the pages." Nan commented.

"I think that doesn't really deserve comments. All in favor?" Ceres said.

"Aye." Josh and Warren replied.

"Motion passed." Ceres said. Nan pouted.

A woman in a red and yellow shirt suddenly walked up to Ceres. "Ceres Winters?" She asked softly. Ceres looked around for a moment.

"Getting popular, you are." Josh said.

"That would be me." Ceres said.

"Please follow me? I need to talk to you." She extended her hand very demurely. Ceres looked reluctant and somewhat suspicious, but took her hand and let her lead him away through the crowd. As they dissapeared into the crowd, a pretty and loud-talking girl walked by, chatting on her cell phone.

"Like, I know! She just came at me with a piece of wood! What? I know! Her eyes were all bloodshot and she was looking for Willow, of all people. God, what is her childhood trauma?" She walked past the remaining three, who turned and looked at her as she did so, then shared a mutual shrug. After a moment, Warren got up from his counter.

"I wonder what she wanted." He muttered.

"Probably be best not to interfere if he's getting some." Josh commented.

"From a total stranger several years older then him?" Warren countered. Josh shrugged and held up his hands.

"Not my business what the freaks in this town do, and I wash my hands of it. Go stalk him if you want." He commented. Warren paused a moment, and then left after Ceres.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The vampire Jack dusted another vampire easily in an alley, not even in his game face. He kicked another vampire across the alley and walked over to it, dragging it up and shoving it against a brickwall. He placed his stake against the vampire's chest and pushed it in slowly. "WHERE is she!" He demanded.

The vampire sputtered and began to shriek. "The Bronx! She's watching some kid! I swear!" Jack released the vampire, pulled the stake out and straightened the vampire's clothing up for him.

"There, there. Was that so hard?" The vampire stood up slowly, panting. Jack turned around and began to walk off. As the vampire slowly turned and began to ran away, Jack turned and flung the stake. It soared across the alley into the back of the running vampire, dusting him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACT IV

The very old vampire with black sunglasses was sitting in the underground passage still. After a moment a ringing sound came from his side. He reached down and pulled out a cell phone, flipping it open and placing it to his ear. "Yeah?" He turned his head to the side for a moment. "Oh really? She's at the Bronx? He must be in there, then. Can't kill them all. Just monitor her for now." He clicked the cell phone closed and returned to his meditation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aura was dancing with Josh and Nan was sitting by the bar alone again, watching everyone.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jill led Ceres to an alleyway outside the Bronx by the hand, then smiled at him and left him there, taking a few steps back into the shadows, her face covered by darkness. Ceres paused for a moment and looked at her curiously. "What..?"

"What is your name?" She asked softly.

"Ceres Winters." He stated simply, his expression one of wariness.

"I'm Jill."

"Do you have a last name, Jill?"

"I used to. Then I decided I didn't need one." She walked forward, her game face on.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warren jerked back as he saw her face from his position hiding behind a few boxes and stumbled backwards, running away, down the alley, around a corner, down the block and back into the Bronx. He panted and looked for Nan, and ran up to her, trying to catch his breath. "Ceres.. attacked.. girl.. brow.. sharp teeth.. thing!" He finished, heaving.

"Ceres was attacked?" Nan stated sharply. "Where?"

Warren was too out of breath to say despite trying to several times in increasingly failed succession, so he just gestured with his hands.

"That's the back alley way. Let's cut out the back. It's shorter. Easier on your pathetically out of shape self." Warren panted and exhaled, then nodded and quickly lead the way, cutting straight across the dance floor. They passed Josh; Warren ignored him, but as Nan passed she cheerfully told him "Vampires!"

Josh paused as Aura stumbled from his pause and looked at him in exasperation as he gazed after Warren and Nan. After a moment he left her and ran after them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What's wrong with your face?" Ceres questioned. "You went from pretty to ugly in a matter of seconds."

"You've got nerve." Jill said softly. She suddenly leapt forward and thrust one long-sleeved covered arm out, hitting him straight in his chest and sending him flying backwards into the alley wall, hitting it with a thud. He collapsed to the ground, gasping. "A little too much, I think."

Two vampires jumped down from above them, growling softly. Jill waved her arm at them. "Pick him up." They did so, holding him upright as he regained his senses and started to struggle. "So very sorry for all this trouble, Ceres."

"What do you want?" Ceres said through half-gritted teeth.

"Just confirmation of facts. Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you."

"The freaky faced duo doesn't really help that statement." He responded, struggling with his arms.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From behind a set of crates, Nan and Warren conversed, the scene with Ceres in the background.

"What do we do?" Warren whispered.

"I don't know." Nan responded simply.

"We need a distraction!"

"Like what?" Nan questioned, her voice full of worry.

"Like, uh..." Warren jumped out from behind the crates. "HEY! GET OFF HIM!" Ceres and his two guards snapped their heads towards him in suprise and stared. "Oh, great plan." He muttered to himself. Jill didn't even look, only kept her gaze on Ceres, walking closer to him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ceres raised his foot and stomped on one of the guard's legs, causing him to let go and yelp. Quickly reaching into his jacket he pulled out the stake and stabbed the guy holding him with it. Rather then turn to dust, the guard yelled in pain. "ARGH! My lung!" and twisted Ceres' arm he had. Ceres winced and stabbed again.

"OW! That's my other lung! OW! That's my kidney! OW! Liver! You're really bad at this! OW! Heart! Oh, wait.. sh-" He turned to dust and faded away.

"YES! Got one!" Ceres turned and was promptly clocked by the other vampire who's foot he'd stomped, spinning about and falling to a knee.

Jill laughed in pure amusement, suddenly jumping up into the air out of sight. Two more vampires suddenly dropped down from above, and three dropped down around Warren and Nan, trapping them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What the hell? It's raining men!" Warren exclaimed.

"You die for that pun later." Nan stated.

"I think I might die -now.-" He whimpered slightly.

Suddenly Josh plowed into one of the vampires from behind, a -WHAM- sound heard as he crushed it into the pavement. The other two vampires backed up slightly for a moment as the jock got up. "Football! Good for knocking down!"

"What the hell?" Warren inquired.

"Less questions, more saving!" Josh replied, turning around and running off the way he came, Warren and Nan right behind him, and the two vampires in hot pursuit.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Comedy isn't going to help you with ME, little boy." The vampire muttered, reaching down to grab Ceres. Ceres suddenly jabbed his stake into the vampire's foot, still kneeling, causing the vampire to yowl in pain. Ceres punched the vampire across the face as hard as he could- enough to cause the vampire to jerk back a little bit- and then pushed him with all his strength. In conjunction with the punch's off-balancing and the stake in his foot, the vampire fell onto his back, landing hard.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Josh, Warren and Nan turned onto an alleyway leading back out to the street and ran down it when their pursuers suddenly dropped in front of them. They came to a halt and looked behind themselves, where the tackled Vampire was walking up to them, rubbing his neck.

"Oh.. this isn't good." Warren said. The vampires started to move in.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ceres leaned down and grabbed hold of the stake, but as he did so, he was grabbed from behind by something bigger and stronger then him with the name of Jack, and tossed backwards across the alleyway, hitting the ground with a roll that left him on his back. Jack snarled softly.

"Causing trouble _already_? When will you sheep learn to just accept death as it comes?" Jack growled. Jill dropped down beside him.

"I think he's the one, Jack." She said softly.

"Good! We'll kill him, then. We'd kill him anyways, come to think of it." He leaned down and grabbed the stake in the vampire's foot, pulling it out. The vampire yelped. "You know, Winters, I really don't like it when my food gets uppity. It's a pain in the butt, you know? Yelling, screaming. Food should go down warn and quietly and make no mess." The vampire foot-stabbed got up behind Jack slowly, brushing himself off. "And incompetent hunters?" He jerked backwards, stabbing the vampire in the heart with the stake. The vampire looked at Jack in total suprise as he dusted, looking betrayed. "Don't deserve to live."

"He won't like you killing our own men, Jack."

"He'd have killed them anyways." Jack muttered. He walked over to Ceres and picked him up, pressing him against a wall. "You know what's it like to have a sharp piece of wood jabbed in your heart? Kind of stings, you know. Sharp feeling, then dissolving. So painful. Guess what? I think you should know how it feels. Cheerie bye!" He rose the stake in the air, snarling.


	3. Not the Slayer

Jack rose the stake in the air, snarling viciously, about to bring it down upon Ceres' chest. As he did so, however, Ceres kicked as hard as he could in the direction of Jack's crotch and delivered a solid thump in the fork of the legs. Jack immediately dropped out of game face, dropped the stake, dropped Ceres, and grasped his crotch, doubling over. Ceres immediately bolted down the alleyway.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warren, Josh and Nan backed into each other, looking at the vampires as they closed in. Warren's face was the expression of fear, while Josh and Nan had more hardened looks.

"Looks like this is it.." Warren muttered. The other two remained silent as the vampire Josh had tackled moved in, grabbing Josh and tossing him backwards. Warren and Nan tried to grab his arms and push him away, but he shrugged them off onto the alley floor. He stood over them, snarling.

"Who to eat first? I think I could use a snack.." He reached for Nan. Before he could get her, however, Ceres plowed into him from the side and knocked him down and into a dumpster headfirst. He got up as fast as he could and looked at the vampires still blocking them.

"Nice save, except there's three more goalies between us balls and the net of freedom." Warren said.

The vampires smirked at each other and began to walk towards them when Josh tackled the rightmost one, knocking him to the ground and pinning him down. The other two turned and growled, grabbing him and pulling him off their friend. "GO!" Josh screamed. "Get out of here!" as the vampires slammed him up against the wall.

Warren dashed out through the opening. Nan hesitated for a moment and looked at Ceres, who gritted his teeth looking at Josh. "There's nothing we can do!" She grabbed Ceres hand and ran off, pulling him with her.

Josh screamed.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACT I

Jack got up slowly, exhaling with the pain of one who was just kicked in the crotch. "They got away. Why didn't you stop them?"

His vampire sister shrugged and watched him. "Wasn't my orders.. I just had to find him, put a little fear of godless things like us into him."

"So you let him get away. He killed one of our number. Sheep shouldn't rebel against their masters. I'll find him.. and make him pay." He walked off with a slight limp. Behind him, Jill only smirked in amusement at her brother's pain.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, Ceres, you want to explain exactly what just happened out there?" Warren asked, sitting down. The three were inside Ceres' room, with Nan on the bed, Warren on a desk chair and Ceres looking out the window nervously. It was still darkness.

"Vampires. Lots of em." Ceres responded, still looking out the window.

"No, really? What was your first clue, the fangs? The way they wanted to suck our blood? Their stale breath?" Warren muttered, shuddering.

"How, though?" Nan questioned calmly. "You had the book on Vampires. What do you know?"

Ceres paused and looked back at Nan. "Well, er.. Basically the world used to belong to demons, and one of them bit a human on their way out. That human became a vampire, and started making other vampires, and now there's a whole subculture of them feeding and waiting for the old gods to return."

"Old gods?" Warren questioned. "There's a breed of new gods?"

"No, it just refers to demons, I guess." Ceres replied.

"My book mentioned that, too.." Nan said quietly.

"Mine sure didn't!" Warren complained. "Just all about hair and moons and fur and saliva. Ick." He made a face. "I thought it'd involve more about-"

"Ceres, how do you kill a vampire?" Nan asked suddenly.

"What?" Ceres turned from the window, shaking his head, looking a bit confused.

"Vampire, killing? How do you kill one?"

"Oh, er.." Ceres paused for a moment. "You can put a piece of wood through their heart, chop off their head, or push them into the sunlight. They don't like holy water or crosses, either, but that won't kill them per say.. Unless you stuffed it into them somehow."

"That doesn't sound so hard." Warren commented dryly.

"What are you talking about?" Ceres snapped. "Did you not SEE them? They're several magnitudes stronger then we are, faster, and they can jump like they're on hyperactive.. Pogo sticks!"

"And we got away from them, didn't we?" Nan responded. Ceres had no response and just turned to the window.

"This is not happening." He muttered to himself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What happened, again?" The dark-glassed vampire master asked in quiet bemusement.

"He.. Kicked me in the crotch. He got away." Jack muttered.

"No, before that, amusing as it is. You abandoned your post to go prey on him?"

"We had him cornered, master! He was but a boy!" Jack suddenly found himself pressed against the wall, the dark-glassed vampire holding him so tightly across the throat that he could not speak.

"I wanted you watching Belinda, not him. Jill was to watch him. Do you know why I had Jill watching him? Because she knows how to scare people, make them never come near our world again. You merely muck things up. You are good for killing, and that is why I keep you and your disastrous ignorance around." He dropped Jack on the ground. "He knows, now. He'll be forewarned. Things have changed." He looked backwards at Jack. "You're quite lucky, you know. Any other master would kill you on the spot for your failure. In fact, why shouldn't I?"

"Because.. We brought you a meal?" Jack gestured to the shadows fearfully, where Jill walked out with a young girl. The vampire master's face changed as Jill pushed the girl towards him, looking at Jack.

"Oh, you didn't. For me?" He reached out and grasped the girl's chin, stroking it playfully. The girl whimpered in terror. "A very nice catch to play with… very well. Get out of my sight."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Warren sat at his desk in class, very bored with the algebraic lesson being taught. He took a small yawn as he looked out the window every so often. The bell rang abruptly to signify the end of class, and he got up, looking over at Nan, who was putting her books away quietly. The class filed out slowly.

"Where's Ceres?" He asked, shifting his backpack onto his back.

"I don't know.. He's not in school today."

"That's trouble."

"I don't think he's handling this vampire thing very well. He's afraid of something." She said softly, looking out the window almost into space.

"Vampires? So am I! But it makes sense to me, at least. Sunnydale's always been a weird place, it makes sense vampires would end up being real after all."

"He's probably going to show up at some point.. Or get himself killed. Want to come over my house for a study session after school?"

Warren blinked. "Erm, sure. Aren't you worried about Ceres?"

Nan merely smiled.

Warren shrugged as they walked out into the hall, looking around. "I haven't seen Josh around either. Do you think he got away..?"

"No." Nan replied. Warren stopped in place and looked at her with an expression of mute horror as she walked down the hall.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACT II

Ceres walked along the streets, passing people and buildings, shaking his head and muttering to himself. He bumped into a few people without apologizing, until he bumped into someone who grasped his arm and stopped him. It was the woman from last night, dressed exactly the same.

"What are you doing out of school?" She questioned. Ceres looked up at her and jerked away when he recognized her.

"None of your business! Who are you, anyways? And what do you have to do with vampires?" Ceres demanded.

"Quiet!" She immediately snapped, looking around her for a minute. But no one had noticed Ceres use of words. "I'm called Belinda. You can call me Bell if you want. Let's not talk out here in the daylight- follow me." With that, she turned around and walked down an alleyway, leaving Ceres to stand alone by himself for a moment. After grunting dissatisfied to himself, he followed after her. She opened a door down the end of the alleyway and walked down some stairs to a small apartment. It was nicely furnished, had a big-screen TV and a couch, a kitchen in the corner with a counter and stools and a wall full of books.

"Nice place." Ceres muttered.

"Thanks. I'm just renting it out, though."

"Just here on business?" Ceres snapped. "Like mine, for example?"

"What you do is entirely my business, Ceres. For starters, you're out in the streets going crazy when you should be in school, learning."

"I'm sorry, vampires exist! Obviously I should be cool as a cucumber about this. Dead things want me dead. Yes, let's study history!"

Bell smacked Ceres across the face. He stood there for a moment, breathing. "Get a hold of yourself. This is no way for a prophesied one to behave." Ceres looked about ready to raise his voice again, but a -very- stern look from Bell stopped him in his tracks. "Can I get you something to drink? Orange juice, tea, soda?"

"I'll have some orange juice." Ceres responded slowly. He sat down on one of the stools, looking at Bell.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Master, she's made contact with him. It's daylight, and she's gone into her apartment. There's nothing I could do." Jill spoke into her cell phone from a café across the street, well in the shadows.

"This is bad." The master murmured, holding the cell phone up to his ears. "Terrible reception. What did you say, Jill?"

"I said she's made contact with him."

"She's cracking Jim? Poor Jim! I knew him well… well, not really."

Jill turned the cell phone off and pursed her lips, disappearing through an exit way. The master looked at the cell phone curiously. "Must have lost the connection. Ah, well. Where were we.." He turned back to the girl brought to him the night before, who was now strung up upon the wall, bloody and beaten, and turned the cell phone off.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I thought we were going to study Math, Nan!" Warren complained, looking over several old books on the floor of Nan's room as he sat at her computer, doing something.

"I said study session. I made no promises or specifics." Nan replied from the floor. "Now quiet, I think I have something. There's this stuff about a slayer.. Who is a female, and obviously not Ceres. But there's a prophecy unrelated to her about a boy."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So.. What's this about a prophecy?" Ceres questioned, drinking his orange juice.

"Well, it's quite simple, really. You're destined to kill a powerful vampire master known only as The Third."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Third? What kind of name for a vampire is that?" Warren sniggered.

"He's the Third Vampire ever made. The first two are long since dead and gone, but he survived." Nan replied from the books. "According to this prophecy, 'a boy will come forth from the angels and take the demons. ' After that somewhere, he kills the Third."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"And I'm expected to do this how?" Ceres questions. Bell shrugged.

"Prophecies work in strange ways, but it's going to come to pass, regardless of how hard you fight against it. What matters is if you decided to fight -with- it. The harder you fight against it, the more of your friends will die before it comes to pass."

Ceres paled for a moment and became quiet, looking at his drink of orange juice before responding. "Why isn't there anyone.. You know, official helping me, if there's a prophecy on it and everything?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'm in!" Warren said. "What did you want from this.. Council of Watchers, anyways? They had some pretty good hacking defenses."

"Search for anything on the prophecy." Nan said. Warren did so, and after a moment he got a link that brought up a text. Reading it, he frowned.

"This can't be right. According to this, the prophecy already occurred.. 800 years ago."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"They were tricked. They thought the prophecy fulfilled, and the Third dead. In reality he simply disappeared again. He is aware of the prophecy and intends to thwart it. You see, prophecies are mutable.. They tend to bend in unexpected ways without straying from the truth."

"I thought it says I kill him?"

"You turn him to dust, it says."

"And that would be bendable.. How?"

Bell shrugged and took Ceres' empty glass. "I don't know. Apparently he does. He's not going to be an easy fight. He is to a vampire what a vampire is to you. His age affords him incredible power. His cowardice ensures he never confronts a foe head-on."

"Is that cowardice? I mean, maybe it's just, you know.. Being smart." Ceres responded, almost hesitantly.

Bell looked at him quizzically.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So no official help on this one. How did you know about this site, anyways?"

Nan shrugged. "Grandpa was one of them. Used to have a password to get in, but they've removed my access abilities." She flipped through the books as Warren stared at the computer.

"Huh. I wonder if they know you can hack them." He muttered.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what's your role in this?" Ceres questioned.

"I want you to kill him. You could call me your guardian angel, of sorts." She smiled at him.

"Yes, but why?"

"I used to be quite proficient at killing vampires, myself. But things.. Changed. Now I just make sure the vampire population is kept trimmed to a nice level. I don't want them wiped out.. Nor do I want them in power. Plus there's the whole moral deal."

"So you're a volunteer worker."

"Could say that. I took upon this mantle myself, after having quite a few forced on me. But enough of me." She left the kitchen and opened a door to a basement of sorts, walking down it. "Come along!" Ceres paused for a moment, and then followed reluctantly. She took him into what looked to be an extensive training area, with punching bag, an array of weapons on the wall and a small ring.

"Wow. How did you get this apartment, again?"

"Pulled a few strings." She walked over to the wall and picked up a sword, tossing it over to Ceres, who caught it in midair. "You're proficient with the sword, yes?"

"How did you know?"

"I have a file on you."

"Little creepy, that."

"Creepy in a good way, I hope."

"Luckily for you."

Bell just smiled and took another sword off the rack for her own, and removed her business suit, leaving her in a blouse and slacks. "Come at me."

"What?" Ceres balked.

"Come at me. I'm going to give you a few pointers. You're going to need them."

"Why?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hold the phone." Warren muttered, reading the screen. "According to this, before he fights the Third, he fights a guardian of the Third on the night of the Harvest. It's how they picked out the prophecy boy before, 800 years ago. "

"Hey, I just passed something like that.." Nan flipped a few pages back in her books. "The Harvest..? That's tonight!"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACT III

"Jack?" The Third asked, shaking his cell phone. He pressed a few numbers on it and sighed as it gave him a "No signal."

"Yes, Master?"

"Would you be a dear and find someone to act as sire for this one?" He gestured at the newly vampirized girl on the wall, who was hissing softly. Jack walked over to her and unshackled her slowly. She cringed in fear from the Third and Jack took her away.

"Oh, and Jack?" The Master called out. "You have free rein to go after that boy tonight if you want. Just so you know."

Jack's eyes lit up and he grinned a vicious grin. "Thank you, Master!" With much more enthusiasm he led the girl away.

The Third looked into a blank mirror, stroking his chin. After a moment he grinned, revealing all of his teeth to be pointed and sharp, sickly and devilish.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ceres was knocked backwards onto his rear again, grunting. Bell removed her foot from the air and swung the sword to the ground. "You keep forgetting I have other limbs, Ceres. Remember, the sword isn't just a weapon. It's a part of you while you're using it. It IS a limb. You should not treat it like an object, or else it can be removed like one. Neither should you forget you have other limbs." She smirked.

"Right.." Ceres got up slowly, rubbing his stomach where he was kicked. "How exactly is this going to help me with fighting some vampire tonight? They're still stronger, faster."

"You're right. But you have something they don't have."

"What is that?"

"Fate. You're going to win, no matter how hard they fight, or how much better they are. Trust in that.. And you'll win."

"Great! Trust in the words of a person I only just met today that I can kill some unnatural demons I only realized -did- exist last night. I might be hallucinating or dreaming."

"Maybe, but you know what the difference between life and dreaming is?" Bell said.

"What?"

"Why would you be dreaming about insane things like this?"

Ceres had no answer, and just raised his sword again, shaking his head.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So what are we doing here again?" Warren muttered as he looked around the decrepit shop. It was stocked full of costumes, old weaponry, and apparently 'mystical' items. Nan took the bag off the counter and took her change from the clerk, an old, British-looking man by the name of Rayne. She thanked him and walked out, and Warren followed her as she put the money back into a pocket.

"Getting weapons, of course." Nan responded, looking through the bag. "We've got crosses, a crossbow, some holy water and I bought some silver just incase."

"Silver?" Warren questioned, looking at the bag and looking around him rather inconspicuously. The sun was starting to set, and he looked more then a little fidgety, moving his backpack around on his back as if it bothered him.

"Just in case."

"How did you know to come here?" Warren looked at Nan as Nan got on top of her bicycle, slinging the bag onto her back. She looked incredibly odd, yet did not seem to notice or care. Warren paused for a moment and just looked at her as she looked back at him.

"Just did." Nan paused for a moment. "Are you going to get on your bike and stop questioning me or am I going to have to look for Ceres on my own?"

"Fine, fine." Warren got on top of his bike, looking around. They began to bicycle down the pavement. Warren made a face. "So what exactly do you plan to do? Mind including me in on this little whole fighting vampires again plan, since we did so wonderfully last time? I still have the bruises."

"We're not going to fight one, Ceres is."

"Why can't we call the police?"

Nan slowed down for a moment and biked with one hand, pretending to be on the phone with the other. "Excuse me, officer? I have to go kill this undead monster of the night tonight and I wanted to let you know I might be in danger. Actually, for that matter there's lots of them! You should totally start a vampire hunting team and call it the Dangerous Undead Slaying Team! D.U.S.T. for short. Thank you, come again." She put her hand on the handlebar again.

"I can't really move away from you because then I'd be in the street and playing Dodge-a-Car-mageddon, but if I could, I would be moving away from you. Just thought you should know."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bell poured herself a cup of tea and sat on a stool behind the counter in the kitchen, a towel draped over her shoulders. Ceres sat across from her, breathing slowly with the slow effort of someone still tired but recovering. "Probably shouldn't have pushed you so hard." Bell commented. "Now you'll be a little tired tonight."

Ceres drank from his cup of orange juice. "You know, I have so many questions about everything it's not funny. Well, actually, it might be, it just isn't to me."

"They'll be answered in time. This is just the beginning, you realize. You can't find everything out on the first page of a novel."

Ceres paused and frowned. "I kind of wish you could. You know, just so I could figure out what to do. I mean, I can barely handle the fact there ARE vampires out there and they happen to want me dead. Now there's this whole prophecy thing, you're telling me I'm a chosen one and I'm going to kill a vampire master. I should have been in school today and I spent all day training with you instead. My dad doesn't know. Should I tell my dad?"

"It wouldn't be wise. Those who don't know usually have to find out by first hand. Otherwise those who don't know tend to think of us who do know as .. Well, insane."

"I figured."

"You think you're ready to fight a vampire tonight?"

"Readier then last night, at least."

"Good. Now get out of here. It's going to be dark soon." Ceres nodded, and got off the chair, picking up the sword that had been laying beside it and headed out the door. Bell watched him for a moment. "You know, he's a lot easier to convince then I was.. Must be the testosterone." She murmured, pulling the amulet she wore out of her blouse and looking at it.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ceres walked out into the streets. The sun had set, and the streetlights were starting to come on. The streets themselves were vacant and empty. He began to walk down the street, holding the sword upright in his hand.

Warren and Nan stopped besides a street corner, Ceres nowhere in sight. Warren looked around hesitantly and almost fearfully, and looked at Nan. Nan looked down a street, then back at Warren, and shrugged. She resumed biking.

Jill watched Ceres from a rooftop, crouched and crawling slowly along the length of it as she did. "Closing time.." She said quietly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACT IV

Ceres stood in the middle of the street, looking around. He gripped his sword nervously and puffed up his chest, looking down the street. "HEY! VAMPIRES! COME ON!" He yelled out loudly, raising his arms and shaking them. When there was no response, he lowered them and looked to the side.

"What the heck am I doing? I'm not a power ranger." He muttered, looking at the sword. "This is insane. I'm going to die. COME ON, VAMPS! FREE FOOD SITTIN OUT HERE!" He yelled again, his face stricken desperate with emotion. Again he was received with silence. After a moment he winced and ran from the street, throwing his sword aside.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nan and Warren biked onto the street where Ceres had been. They stopped. Warren spoke, "I could have sworn I heard Ceres yelling from over here. You heard him too, right, Nan?"

"Yeah.. What's that?" She pointed at the sidewalk, near the gutter.

Warren got off his bike and picked up a sword, looking at, then at Nan. It was the same sword Ceres had thrown away. The two looked at the sword again for a minute. "I don't suppose a couple of knights just happened to be riding by and dropped their sword." Warren commented.

"Take it. Come on." Nan began biking again, and Warren had to hurry to get back on his bike and catch up, putting the sword in his backpack.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ceres ran through an alleyway, panting and out of breath, stopping and leaning against a brick wall. He wiped his forehead, looking at the ground. A light is shining on his face, and he raises his hand to look up in the air at a sign that says clearly, "Bronze." He was back where he had been last night. He sniffed the air, and recoiled. Something smelled terrible, and he covered his nose as he walked towards the source around a corner. It led him to a dumpster, and after a moment of hesitation he pushed the top open.

Josh's body. Quite drained of blood.

He dropped the top and stumbled backwards for a moment, staring at the dumpster. The shock of last night's events had never quite been done with, but with the confirmation of Josh's death, his body laying in a dumpster not far from where Ceres had nearly been killed, brought it home to Ceres. Josh had died so they could live, and here Ceres was, running like a coward instead of facing his fate.

Ceres stood up again and looked at the body for a moment more. He turned and walked down the alleyway back away from the Bronze.

Jack sniffed the air and walked along the alleyways. "He's close. I can smell it." He grinned, looking over his shoulder at the corner of an alleyway, then turned round it, putting himself in front of a walking Ceres. The two promptly bumped into each other and stumbled backwards, jerking with surprise and holding up their hands to apologize before realizing who they had bumped into.

"Well, well, well." Jack said, straightening his jacket. "Look what it is! A sheep, lost." He advanced towards Ceres, who backed up a few steps, and then swung, slugging Jack across the face, forcing Jack to twist to the side.. Jack held his cheek that had been hit with a hand, hiding his face. When he straightened up, his game face was on. "Come on, black sheep. Is that all you've got?" He laughed, then extended his arm and grabbed Ceres by the shirt, hurling him across the alleyway.

Ceres went tumbling across the cement, laying on his back.

Jack began to walk over to Ceres, talking as he did so. "You know, you ought to have shown more respect for your master, little animal. You've been chosen as one that will feed your masters. You're special! And isn't that what everyone wants you to know? You're special?" He chuckled. "Parents, teachers, those little programs on TV. I always liked watching those. Well, looks like they were right." He stopped over Ceres and reached down, pulling him up to his feet. "Food does not hit the people eating it, you know." He raised a hand and punched Ceres in the face, still holding him up. "Oh, and by the way, this one's for the cheap shot last night."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nan and Warren stopped biking for a moment. "Nan.." Warren started. "I really don't think we're going to find Ceres."

Ceres flew out from a nearby alleyway, hitting a car and falling to the ground on his knees and feet.

"At least not unless you make a comment that allows for finding him to be ironic." Nan said dryly, getting off her bike as Warren stared in shock, looking at the alleyway and then Ceres. He got off his bike and pulled his backpack off, dropping it to the ground as he moved to Ceres.

Jack walked out of the alleyway, stopping when he saw the other two. "Oh, friends! Goody for me. I get a feast tonight."

"Yeah, I've got friends." Ceres muttered, standing up with Nan's help. "Where are yours?"

Jack sneered in anger and went to make a move, causing Warren to back up in fear, but Nan held up a cross and Jack hissed, backing away. Warren pulled the sword out of the backpack and held it up. "Hah! Now come and get some!" He said.

"Warren, the sword?" Ceres asked, holding his hand open.

"Hey, what? I found it!"

"It's mine."

"But-!"

"Hey, who's the prophesied one here, thank you very much?" Ceres said.

"Oh, fine." Warren handed over the sword and then stayed close to Nan, who kept the cross up without fear on her face.

Ceres held the sword up and looked at Jack, who was recovering from the recoil of the cross. "So the sheep has weapons now. No difference. Even a rat can still bite. Doesn't mean it can kill."

"We'll see about that." Ceres stepped forward, swinging with two hands. The vampire moved out of the way and backhanded Ceres, sending Ceres to the side and into an alleyway wall. As Jack grabbed him by the shoulders, he plunged the sword backwards into Jack's chest, forcing Jack off of him. Jack looked down at the sword plunged neatly through his chest for a moment as Ceres turned around.

"Nice bite." He commented. "Not going to stop me, through." He kicked Ceres back into the wall and pulled the sword out, holding it up with Ceres' hand still holding onto it. "Very sharp. Let's see how it looks-" Ceres punched him in the face.

"I have other limbs, you know." Ceres commented. With that, he pushed Jack backwards and kneed him as hard as he could in the gut. Jack doubled over, groaning.

"Ceres!" Nan snapped. She tossed him a stake. Ceres grabbed it and as Jack stood up again, imbedded it in his chest. Jack looked down at the stake, neatly in his right breast, as Ceres stood back.

"Heart's on the other side. Sorry." He grinned and pulled the weapons out of him, tossing either weapon aside and reached forward, grabbing Ceres by the throat again, holding him up against the wall. Nan ran up and tried to hit him in the back with a stake but he knocked her away before she even got close. Warren ran at him and hit him in the back with his backpack. This caused Jack to grunt and drop Ceres, turning to look at Warren angrily. "What is it WITH you sheep? Can't you leave a master to have his meal in peace!"

A stake point suddenly pushed out of his chest, on the left side this time. He looked down at the stake and groaned, shaking his head in disappointment as his form turned to dust, leaving Ceres staring at Warren, panting slowly as Nan got up at the side, holding her head.

"So.." Ceres began. "Who wants pizza?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, didja get grounded?" Warren questioned Ceres. It was the next day, in school. The two of them were eating lunch as Nan joined them.

"Nah. Just told him I had hung out at a new friend's house after school and that I had forgotten to call on account of having so much fun. He was happy enough I was making new friends he lessened it to a week of taking out the garbage."

"That's cool. Did you hear about the gang fight yesterday? Apparently two gangs got it on in the Bronze."

"Vampires." Nan said, eating her meal. The two looked at her for a moment, then shrugged in unison.

"Glass ain't too empty after all." Ceres commented. "At least I might pass 10th grade."

"Yeah, if you're not prophesied to fail it or anything." Ceres punched him in the shoulder playfully.

"Maybe we could study Math tonight?" Nan suggested. "My house. Mum's making chocolate milk."

"Ooh, chocolate milk. " Ceres said.


End file.
